Therapeutic and diagnostic anti-hsp70 antibodies

ABSTRACT

Methods and compositions for the detection, prevention and treatment of infectious diseases, primary and metastatic neoplastic diseases, including, but not limited to human sarcomas and carcinomas are described. In particular, specific antibodies are provided, which are capable of binding an epitope of Hsp70 that is extracellularly localized on diseased tissue and cells, in particular on tumor cells and infected cells.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.10/581,960, filed: Jun. 5, 2006, (Allowed), which is a U.S. NationalStage Application under 35 U.S.C. 371 of PCT International PatentApplication Serial No.: PCT/EP2004/013854, filed: Dec. 6, 2004, whichclaims priority to European Patent Application Serial No.: EP 03 028144.8, filed: Dec. 5, 2003, each of which are herein incorporated byreference in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to methods and compositions for thedetection, prevention and treatment of infectious diseases, primary andmetastatic neoplastic diseases, including, but not limited to leukemia,human sarcomas and carcinomas. In accordance with the present invention,the practice of the detection, prevention and treatment of infectiousdiseases and cancer is mediated and/or indicated by the presence andlocalization of certain tumor markers on the cell surface of diseasedtissue or cells. In particular, the present invention relates toantibodies and antigen-binding molecules which are capable of binding toan epitope of heat shock protein Hsp70 that is localized extracellularlyon tumor cells. Furthermore, the present invention relates tocompositions comprising said antibodies and their use in methods ofdiagnosis and treating immune response related and other diseasesincluding tumors. The present invention further concerns the use of anantibody capable of recognizing membrane-bound Hsp70 protein or abinding domain thereof for the detection and/or treatment of a tumor oran infectious disease.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Heat shock proteins (Hsps) are highly conserved molecules mediatingprotection against lethal damage following various stress stimuli inprokaryotic and eukaryotic cells. Also under physiological conditionsthey support folding of non-native or misfolded proteins and preventaggregation during proliferation and cellular differentiation (Hartl andHayer-Hartl, Science 295 (2002), 1852-1858). The best characterizedgroup of chaperones belong to the Hsp70 family. Like other stressproteins, Hsp70s are most efficient if they operate in concert withco-factors as cellular chaperone machineries. Together with J domainco-chaperones (i.e. Hsp40), they support protein folding and assisttranslocation across membranes (Pilon and Schekman, Cell 97 (1999),679-682). Heat shock proteins (HSP) are also inducible by physiologicalprocesses including cell differentiation and development (Lindquist andCraig, Annu. Rev. Genet. 22 (1988), 631). Intracellular HSP functionsnot only as molecular chaperones, they are involved in antigenprocessing and presentation as well (DeNagel and Pierce, Immunol. Today13 (1992), 86; Hartl et al., Nature 381 (1996), 571). HSP with amolecular weight of 70 and 90 kDa also have been shown to function ascarrier proteins for immunogenic tumor-derived peptides that induce a Tcell mediated immune response against cancer (Tamura et al., Science 278(1997), 117; Schild et al., Current Opinion in Immunology 11 (1999),109; Srivastava et al., Immunity 8 (1998), 657). Antigen presentingcells are key for the receptor mediated uptake of HSP-peptide complexes(Arnold-Schild et al., J. Immunol. 162 (1999), 3757). Several groupsreported an unusual plasma membrane localization of HSP on tumor cells(Altmeyer et al., Int. J. Cancer 69 (1996), 340; Ferrarini et al., Int.J. Cancer 51 (1992), 613; Piselli et al., J. Biol. Regul. Homeost Agents9 (1995), 55; Tamura et al., J. Immunol. 151 (1993), 5516). Theinventors were the first who demonstrated that NK cells also have to beconsidered as relevant effector cells for the recognition ofmembrane-bound Hsp70 on tumor cells (Multhoff et al., Blood 86 (1995a),1374; Multhoff et al., Int. J. Cancer 61 (1995b), 272; Multhoff et al.,J. Immunol. 158 (1997), 4341; Botzler et al., Cancer Immunol.Immunother. 43 (1996a), 226; Botzler et al., Int. J. Cancer 65 (1996b),633). With respect to these findings and due to the fact that normalcells lack expression of Hsp70, on the plasma membrane, one mightspeculate that Hsp70 acts as a tumor-selective recognition structure forNK cells. Antibody blocking studies revealed that Hsp70 is a relevantrecognition structure for transiently plastic adherent NK cells(Multhoff et al., Blood 86 (1995a), 1374; Multhoff et al., Int. J.Cancer 61 (1995b), 272; Multhoff et al., J. Immunol. 158 (1997), 4341;Botzler et al., Cell Stress & Chaperones 3 (1998), 6).

It was recently demonstrated that proliferation and cytolytic activityof NK cells against Hsp70-expressing tumor cells could be stimulatedwith recombinant Hsp70 protein but not with Hsc70 or DnaK (Multhoff etal., Exp. Hematology 27 (1999), 1627). As target cells for the cytolyticactivity of NK cells the tumor sublines CX+ and CX− with an identicalMHC and adhesion molecule expression pattern that differ with respect tothe capacity to express Hsp70 on the plasma membrane, were used(Multhoff et al., J. Immunol. 158 (1997), 4341).

As described above, the presence and localization of Hsp70 on the cellsurface of diseased tissue or cells, in particular on tumor cellsprovides a valuable marker and target for therapeutic intervention. Itis thus highly desirable to have antibodies or other binding molecules,which specifically recognize extracellular epitopes of Hsp70 on suchtissue and cells.

Although several antibodies directed against Hsp70 are commerciallyavailable and have been described in the literature, these appear to beuncapable and/or unreliable in detecting membrane-bound Hsp70 on thesurface of cells. The inventors tested a panel of these antibodies forthe ability to detect plasma membrane bound Hsp70. Most of the testedantibodies were unsuitable for this task (SPA-820, Stressgen;H553220-clone7; BD Pharmingen; H5147 clone BRM-22; Sigma; 0A500polyclonal, Dako; MS-482 clone W27, NeoMarkers), while others gaveconflicting results.

The anti-Hsp70 antibodies from Affinity Bioreagents (MA3-006 andMA3-009) showed different specificities for different batches. Somebatches were suitable for the detection of Hsp70 on the plasma membraneto some extent (Botzler et al., Cell Stress & Chaperones 3 (1998), 6)but recent batches showed no reactivity towards Hsp70 localized on thecell surface of tumor cells. Similarly, clone C92F3A-5 supplied byStressgen Inc. as SPA-810 and by MBL, Japan, as SR-B810 has beendescribed to react with cell surface localized Hsp70 on some occasions(Barreto et al., Cell. Immunol. 222 (2003), 97-104; Feng et al., Blood100 (2002), 4108-4115) but the inventors were unable to repeat thereported results. In the report of Feng et al. cell surface Hsp70 wasonly detected in apoptotic cells, which may be due to antibodiesentering the degrading apoptotic cells whose cell membrane was no longerintact and detecting intracellular Hsp70. The conflicting results ofBaretto et al and other investigators might further be due to qualitydifferences of the batches used for the respective experiments. Alsothere are no reports of binding cell surface Hsp70 so far for the MBLsupplied antibody.

Loss of specificity or a change of specificity of a monoclonal antibodymay also be due the hybridoma cell line producing said antibody notbeing derived from a single cell line. A mixture of two or moredifferent hybridomas will produce a mixture of two or more monoclonalantibodies with different specificity. The ratio of the cells within theculture and thereby the ratio of the different monoclonal antibodiesproduced by them may vary during cultivation. Also, a particularhybridoma producing the antibody with the desired specificity might belost from the mixture if the other hybridoma cells have an evolutionaryadvantage. A mixture of hybridomas in the culture can also result frommutations in certain cells leading to shifting specificities of theantibodies produced.

Thus, there is a need for a reliable source of anti-Hsp70 antibodiescapable of detecting extracellular epitopes of Hsp70 and therebyenabling the specific detection and treatment of tumor cells or cellsinfected by a pathogen.

The solution to said technical problem is achieved by providing theembodiments characterized in the claims and described further below.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to the technical field of immunology andthe treatment of diseases mediated and/or indicated by the presence andlocalization of certain tumor markers on the cell surface of diseasedtissue or cells. In a first aspect, the present invention relates to anantibody or antigen-binding fragment thereof that binds to an epitope ofHsp70 that is localized extracellularly on tumor cells.

Particularly, the present invention concerns a monoclonal antibodycmHsp70.1 as produced by hybridoma cmHsp70.1, deposited with theDSMZ-Deutsche Sammlung von Mikroorganismen und Zellkulturen GmbH,Mascheroder Weg 1b, D-38124 Braunschweig, Germany on Nov. 14, 2003, andassigned Accession Number DSM ACC2629, and cmHsp70.2 as well as thehybridoma producing it cmHsp70.2, deposited with the DSMZ-DeutscheSammlung von Mikroorganismen und Zellkulturen GmbH on Nov. 14, 2003, andassigned Accession Number DSM ACC2630.

In a preferred embodiment, the antibody is a human, humanized,xenogeneic, or a chimeric human-murine antibody. Therapeuticcompositions including the antibody or active fragments thereof, oragonists and cognate molecules, or alternately, antagonists of the same,and methods of use of such compositions in the prevention, diagnosis ortreatment of tumorigenic or infections diseases using these compositionsare also included, wherein an effective amount of the composition isadministered to a patient in need of such treatment. However, fordiagnostic uses and research in general murine antibodies are preferredas well.

The antigen-binding fragment of the monoclonal antibody can be a singlechain Fv fragment, an F(ab′) fragment, an F(ab) fragment, and an F(ab′)₂fragment, or any other antigen-binding fragment. In a specificembodiment, infra, the monoclonal antibody or fragment thereof is amurine IgG or IgM isotype antibody.

Naturally, the invention extends to the hybridoma that producesmonoclonal antibody cmHsp70.1 or cmHsp70.2, which hybridoma is depositedwith the DSMZ as indicated hereinbefore.

The present invention also relates to polynucleotides encoding at leasta variable region of an immunoglobulin chain of the antibody of theinvention. Preferably, said variable region comprises at least onecomplementarity determining region (CDR) of the V_(H) and/or V_(L) ofthe variable region of the antibody cmHsp70.1 or cmHsp70.2.

Accordingly, the present invention also encompasses vectors comprisingsaid polynucleotides and host cells transformed therewith as well astheir use for the production of an antibody capable of bindingspecifically extracellular localized epitopes of Hsp70 on intact cells,in particular tumor cells, or a functional fragment or immunoglobulinchain(s) thereof.

It is also an object of the invention to provide bi- or multifunctionalmolecules that comprise a binding domain of an antibody, animmunoglobulin chain or a binding fragment of the present invention,which binds cell surface membrane-bound heat shock protein (HSP), and atleast one further functional domain.

The antibody, immunoglobulin chain(s), binding fragments thereof andligands other than Hsp70 binding to said antibody can be used inpharmaceutical and diagnostic compositions for modulating and detectingan immune response or for the detection and/or treatment of a tumor.

Additionally, methods are provided for determining a tumor comprisingassaying cells in a sample from a patient with the antibody or the bi-or multifunctional molecule according to the invention, wherein thepresence or increased amount of extracellular localized Hsp70 isindicative for the tumor, and for treating a tumor or modulating theimmune response in a subject in need thereof, comprising administeringto the subject a therapeutically effective amount of said antibody orbi- or multifunctional molecule.

The use of the foregoing compositions in the preparation of medicamentis preferred. In preferred embodiments, the medicament is useful in thetreatment of conditions related to a tumor or an infections disease.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1: Hsp70 antibody of the invention block cytolytic activity ofactivated NK cells (NKd3). FIG. 1 shows the result of a representativeexperiment with monoclonal antibody cmHsp70.1. Either unstimulated(NKd0) or stimulated (NKd3) NK cells were used as effector cells at E:Tratios ranging from 20:1 to 2:1. Unstimulated NK cells (NKd3) showedonly weak lysis of CX+ and CX− tumor cells, in contrast Hsp70 activatedNK cells (NKd3) showed significant lysis of CX+ tumor cells but onlyweak lysis of CX− tumor target cells. After pre-incubation of CX+ andCX− tumor target cells with Hsp70 specific antibody (5 μg/ml) for 1 hand then used as target cells in a 4 h Cr-51 release assay, lysis of CX+tumor cells (left graph) could be completely blocked by Hsp70 Ab whereaslysis of CX− target cells (right graph) remained unaffected. The datarepresent the mean values of three independent experiments +/−SE.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention concerns methods and compositions for thediagnosis, prevention and treatment of primary and metastatic neoplasticdiseases and infectious diseases and for eliciting an immune response ina human individual. In particular, the present invention relates tomolecules that bind to an extracellular localized epitope of Hsp70 ontumor cells, especially intact tumor cells. More specifically, thepresent invention relates to antibodies and antigen-binding fragmentsthereof, which demonstrate the immunological binding characteristics ofmonoclonal antibody cmHsp70.1 as produced by hybridoma cmHsp70.1,deposited with the DSMZ-Deutsche Sammlung von Mikroorganismen andZellkulturen GmbH, Mascheroder Weg 1b, D-38124 Braunschweig, Germany onNov. 14, 2003, and assigned Accession Number DSM ACC2629, or ofcmHsp70.2 produced by the hybridoma cmHsp70.2, deposited with theDSMZ-Deutsche Sammlung von Mikroorganismen and Zellkulturen GmbH on Nov.14, 2003, and assigned Accession Number DSM ACC2630. Where present, theterm “immunological binding characteristics,” or other bindingcharacteristics of an antibody with an antigen, in all of itsgrammatical forms, refers to the specificity, affinity,cross-reactivity, and other binding characteristics of an antibody.

As mentioned before, while several antibodies specific for Hsp70 exist,only two of them have been reported to recognize occasionally an epitopethat is localized extracellularly. The failure to bind to plasmamembrane bound Hsp70 by its extracellular epitope might be due to eitherinstability or varying quality of the antibody or to its requirement forvery specific binding conditions that are not always given.

Antibodies for diagnostic and/or therapeutic purposes however need towork reliably under various conditions encountered in routinelaboratories and should be produced by a stable source, i.e. hybridomacell line.

The present invention provides two hybridoma lines and the antibodiesproduced by them. It was surprisingly found that both purifiedantibodies are capable of binding to Hsp70 localized on the plasmamembrane via an extracellular epitope. Since only transformed andinfected human cells, respectively, appear to express Hsp70 on theircell surface the antibodies according to the invention are able todistinguish between normal and tumor cells. Thus, the invention providesan antibody or antigen-binding fragment thereof that binds to anextracellularly localized epitope of Hsp70 on tumor cells, which givesrise to several embodiments described herein.

Since the expression of Hsp70 on the cell surface is a hallmark ofseveral different types of cancer, see supra while being absent from theplasma membrane of normal cells (Multhoff et al., Int. J. Cancer 61(1995b), 272) a preferred embodiment of the antibody of the presentinvention binds to tumor cell, wherein said tumor is a human tumorselected from the group consisting of colon, lung, stomach, prancreas,head and neck, ovary, and/or breast cancer, melanoma, glioblastoma,sarcoma blastocytoma and/or hematological malignancies which are usuallystrongly correlated with tumor type and may play a role in earlieststages of tumor initiation, those hematological malignancies compriseAcute Myeloid Leukemia (AML), Myelodysplastic Syndromes (MDS),Myeloproliferative Disorders (MPD), Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL),lymphomas such as Burkitt's lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease, non-Hodgkin'sand non-Burkitt's lymphomas, and Lymphoproliferative Disorders (LPD),i.e. B- and T-lineage disorders.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the antibodiesrecognize an epitope that comprises or consists of the amino acidsequence NLLGRFEL (SEQ ID NO: 1) or TKDNNLLGRFELSG (SEQ ID NO: 2). Thepeptides of SEQ ID NO: 1 and 2 were shown to be presented on theextracellular side of the plasma membrane when Hsp70 is localized on thecell surface and inhibit the binding of antibodies according to theinvention in a dose dependent manner. Most preferably, said antibodiesare monoclonal antibodies. In particular, the antibody or theantigen-binding fragment thereof of the present invention preferablyexhibit the immunological binding characteristics of monoclonal antibodycmHsp70.1 as produced by hybridoma cmHsp70.1, deposited with theDSMZ-Deutsche Sammlung von Mikroorganismen und Zellkulturen GmbH,Mascheroder Weg 1b, D-38124 Braunschweig, Germany on Nov. 14, 2003, andassigned Accession Number DSM ACC2629, or of cmHsp70.2 as produced bythe hybridoma cmHsp70.2, deposited with the DSMZ-Deutsche Sammlung vonMikroorganismen und Zellkulturen GmbH on Nov. 14, 2003, and assignedAccession Number DSM ACC2630. The immunological binding characteristicsof monoclonal antibody cmHsp70.1 are substantially the same as those ofantibody RPN1197 described inter alia in international patentapplication WO02/22656; see particularly the examples, the disclosure ofwhich is incorporated herein by reference. However, while internationalapplication WO02/22656 as well as other publications by the inventors,e.g., Botzler et al., Cell Stress & Chaperones 3 (1998), 6-11, describethe desired immunological characteristics of an antibody of the presentinvention, especially that the antibodies are capable of binding toviable Hsp70-expressing (CX+) tumor cells and preferably alsosubstantially inhibit the lysis of CX+ cells, the present invention forthe first time enables the unlimited provision of such antibodies andreliable sources, in particular corresponding hyprodoma cell lines.Hence, the provision of the hybridomas producing monoclonal antibodiescmHsp70.1 and cmHsp70.2, respectively, enables the person skilled in theart to design and produce functionally equivalent antibodies, forexample by adapting the antigen-binding site of either of the mentionedantibodies.

Each of the two antibodies specifically provided is unique with respectto its respective immunological and biological activities. Both may bedistinguished from other anti-Hsp70 antibodies by their ability to bindto extracellular epitopes of Hsp70, in particular on intact and viabletumor cells. They are also capable of exhibiting an inhibitory effect onthe cytolytic activity of NK cells against Hsp70 expressing tumor cells;see FIG. 1. Hence, Hsp70 binding molecules derived from cmHsp70.1 orfrom cmHsp70.2 are preferably used in but not limited to therapeutic anddiagnostic applications.

Furthermore, in one embodiment the antibodies of the present inventionare preferably characterized in that 0.1 to 10 μg/ml, preferably lessthan 5 μg/ml and most preferably about 0.1 to 1 μg/ml of the antibody ofthe invention is sufficient for the detection of CX tumor cells followedby protein A-bold labelling (10 μm Aurion) and viewed in a Zeiss EM 10CRelectron microscope; see for experimental details, e.g., Botzler et al.,Cell Stress & Chaperons 3 (1998), 6-11. Furthermore, the antibodies ofthe present invention are preferably characterized in that they are ableto block the cytolytic activity of activated NK cells; see FIG. 1. Insuch experiments usually 1 to 20 μg/ml, preferably 5 to 10 μg/ml, andmost preferably about or less than 5 μg/ml of the given antibody issufficient to obtain the same results as described in FIG. 1.

Alternatively, the antibody of the present invention is a monoclonalantibody or antigen-binding fragment thereof, which competes for bindingto an extracellular epitope of Hsp70 with an antibody provided by thepresent invention. Those antibodies may be murine as well; however,human, humanized, xenogeneic, or chimeric human-murine antibodies beingpreferred, in particular for therapeutic applications. Anantigen-binding fragment of the antibody can be, for example, a singlechain Fv fragment, an F(ab′) fragment, an F(ab) fragment, and an F(ab′)₂fragment. Thus, for some applications only the variable regions of theantibodies are required, which can be obtained by treating themonoclonal antibody isolated from the hybridoma with suitable reagentsso as to generate Fab′, Fab, or F(ab″)₂ portions. Such fragments aresufficient for use, for example, in immunodiagnostic proceduresinvolving coupling the immunospecific portions of immunoglobulins todetecting reagents such as radioisotopes.

Naturally, the invention extends to the hybridoma producing antibodiesaccording to the invention as well. Thus, the invention advantageouslyprovides an indefinitely prolonged cell source of a monoclonal antibodyof the invention: the hybridoma. Particularly preferred is a hybridomaselected from the group consisting of hybridoma cmHsp70.1, depositedwith the DSMZ-Deutsche Sammlung von Mikroorganismen und ZellkulturenGmbH, Mascheroder Weg 1b, D-38124 Braunschweig, Germany on Nov. 14,2003, and assigned Accession Number DSM ACC2629, or cmHsp70.2, depositedwith the DSMZ-Deutsche Sammlung von Mikroorganismen und ZellkulturenGmbH on Nov. 14, 2003, and assigned Accession Number DSM ACC2670.

As an alternative to obtaining immunoglobulins directly from the cultureof hybridomas, the immortalized hybridoma cells can be used as a sourceof rearranged heavy chain and light chain loci for subsequent expressionand/or genetic manipulation. Rearranged antibody genes can be reversetranscribed from appropriate mRNAs to produce cDNA. If desired, theheavy chain constant region can be exchanged for that of a differentisotype or eliminated altogether. The variable regions can be linked toencode single chain Fv regions. Multiple Fv regions can be linked toconfer binding ability to more than one target or chimeric heavy andlight chain combinations can be employed. Once the genetic material isavailable, design of analogues as described above which retain boththeir ability to bind the desired target is straightforward. Methods forthe cloning of antibody variable regions and generation of recombinantantibodies are known to the person skilled in the art and are described,for example, Gilliland et al., Tissue Antigens 47 (1996), 1-20; Doeneckeet al., Leukemia 11 (1997), 1787-1792.

In accordance with the above, the present invention also relates to apolynucleotide encoding at least a variable region of an immunoglobulinchain of the antibody described above. Typically, said variable regionencoded by the polynucleotide comprises at least one complementaritydetermining region (CDR) of the V_(H) and/or V_(L) of the variableregion of the antibody produced by any one of the above describedhybridomas. The person skilled in the art knows that each variabledomain (the heavy chain V_(H) and light chain V_(L)) of an antibodycomprises three hypervariable regions, sometimes called complementaritydetermining regions or “CDRs” flanked by four relatively conservedframework regions or “FRs”. The CDRs contained in the variable regionsof the antibody of the invention can be determined, e.g., according toKabat, Sequences of Proteins of Immunological Interest (U.S. Departmentof Health and Human Services, third edition, 1983, fourth edition, 1987,fifth edition 1990 and updates thereof). The person skilled in the artwill readily appreciate that the variable domain of the antibody havingthe above-described variable domain can be used for the construction ofother polypeptides or antibodies of desired specificity and biologicalfunction. Thus, the present invention also encompasses polypeptides andantibodies comprising at least one CDR of the above-described variabledomain and which advantageously have substantially the same or similarbinding properties as the antibody described herein above. The personskilled in the art will readily appreciate that using the variabledomains or CDRs described herein antibodies can be constructed accordingto methods known in the art, e.g., as described in EP-A1 0 451 216 andEP-A1 0 549 581. Furthermore, the person skilled in the art knows thatbinding affinity may be enhanced by making amino acid substitutionswithin the CDRs or within the hypervariable loops (Chothia and Lesk, J.Mol. Biol. 196 (1987), 901-917) which partially overlap with the CDRs asdefined by Kabat. Thus, the present invention also relates to antibodieswherein one or more of the mentioned CDRs comprise one or more,preferably not more than two amino acid substitutions.

The polynucleotide of the invention encoding the above describedantibody may be, e.g., DNA, cDNA, RNA or synthetically produced DNA orRNA or a recombinantly produced chimeric nucleic acid moleculecomprising any of those polynucleotides either alone or in combination.Preferably said polynucleotide is part of a vector. Such vectors maycomprise further genes such as marker genes which allow for theselection of said vector in a suitable host cell and under suitableconditions.

Thus a vector comprising said polynucleotide, optionally in combinationwith a polynucleotide that encodes the variable region of the otherimmunoglobulin chain of said antibody is a preferred embodiment of theinvention

Preferably, the polynucleotide of the invention is operatively linked toexpression control sequences allowing expression in prokaryotic oreukaryotic cells. Expression of said polynucleotide comprisestranscription of the polynucleotide into a translatable mRNA. Regulatoryelements ensuring expression in eukaryotic cells, preferably mammaliancells, are well known to those skilled in the art. They usually compriseregulatory sequences ensuring initiation of transcription and optionallypoly-A signals ensuring termination of transcription and stabilizationof the transcript. Additional regulatory elements may includetranscriptional as well as translational enhancers, and/or naturallyassociated or heterologous promoter regions.

In this respect, the person skilled in the art will readily appreciatethat the polynucleotides encoding at least the variable domain of thelight and/or heavy chain may encode the variable domains of bothimmunoglobulin chains or only one. Likewise, said polynucleotides may beunder the control of the same promoter or may be separately controlledfor expression. Possible regulatory elements permitting expression inprokaryotic host cells comprise, e.g., the P_(L), Iac, trp or tacpromoter in E. coli, and examples for regulatory elements permittingexpression in eukaryotic host cells are the AOX1 or GAL1 promoter inyeast or the CMV-, SV40-, RSV-promoter (Rous sarcoma virus),CMV-enhancer, SV40-enhancer or a globin intron in mammalian and otheranimal cells.

Beside elements which are responsible for the initiation oftranscription such regulatory elements may also comprise transcriptiontermination signals, such as the SV40-poly-A site or the tk-poly-A site,downstream of the polynucleotide. Furthermore, depending on theexpression system used leader sequences capable of directing thepolypeptide to a cellular compartment or secreting it into the mediummay be added to the coding sequence of the polynucleotide of theinvention and are well known in the art. The leader sequence(s) is (are)assembled in appropriate phase with translation, initiation andtermination sequences, and preferably, a leader sequence capable ofdirecting secretion of translated protein, or a portion thereof, intothe periplasmic space or extracellular medium. Optionally, theheterologous sequence can encode a fusion protein including a C- orN-terminal identification peptide imparting desired characteristics,e.g., stabilization or simplified purification of expressed recombinantproduct. In this context, suitable expression vectors are known in theart such as Okayama-Berg cDNA expression vector pcDV1 (Pharmacia),pCDM8, pRc/CMV, pcDNA1, pcDNA3 (Invitrogen), or pSPORT1 (GIBCO BRL).

Preferably, the expression control sequences will be eukaryotic promotersystems in vectors capable of transforming or transfecting eukaryotichost cells, but control sequences for prokaryotic hosts may also beused. Once the vector has been incorporated into the appropriate host,the host is maintained under conditions suitable for high levelexpression of the nucleotide sequences, and, as desired, the collectionand purification of the immunoglobulin light chains, heavy chains,light/heavy chain dimers or intact antibodies, binding fragments orother immunoglobulin forms may follow; see, Beychok, Cells ofImmunoglobulin Synthesis, Academic Press, N.Y., (1979).

Once the appropriate genetic material is obtained and, if desired,modified to encode an analogue, the coding sequences, including thosethat encode, at a minimum, the variable regions of the heavy and lightchain, and inserted into an appropriate expression system, i.e. a vectorwhich can be transfected, the antibody or fragment thereof may beexpressed recombinantly in host cells. A variety of such host cells maybe used; for efficient processing, however, mammalian cells arepreferred. Typical mammalian cell lines useful for this purpose includeCHO cells, 293 cells, or NSO cells.

A host cell comprising a polynucleotide or a vector according to theinvention is thus a preferred embodiment. Vectors may be plasmids,cosmids, viruses and bacteriophages used conventionally in geneticengineering. Apart from a polynucleotide encoding a variable domain ofan immunoglobulin chain of an antibody of the invention; they mayoptionally comprise a polynucleotide of the invention that encodes thevariable domain of the other immunoglobulin chain of the antibody of theinvention. Preferably, said vector is an expression vector and/or a genetransfer or targeting vector. Expression vectors derived from virusessuch as retroviruses, vaccinia virus, adeno-associated virus, herpesviruses, or bovine papilloma virus, may be used for delivery of thepolynucleotides or vector of the invention into targeted cellpopulation. Methods which are well known to those skilled in the art canbe used to construct recombinant viral vectors; see, for example, thetechniques described in Sambrook, Molecular Cloning A Laboratory Manual,Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (1989) N.Y. and Ausubel, Current Protocolsin Molecular Biology, Green Publishing Associates and WileyInterscience, N.Y. (1994). Alternatively, the polynucleotides andvectors of the invention can be reconstituted into liposomes fordelivery to target cells. The vectors containing the polynucleotides ofthe invention (e.g., the heavy and/or light variable domain(s) of theimmunoglobulin chains encoding sequences and expression controlsequences) can be transferred into the host cell by well known methods,which vary depending on the type of cellular host. For example, calciumchloride transfection is commonly utilized for prokaryotic cells,whereas calcium phosphate treatment or electroporation may be used forother cellular hosts; see Sambrook, supra.

The present invention furthermore relates to host cells transformed witha polynucleotide or vector of the invention. Said host cell may be aprokaryotic or eukaryotic cell. The polynucleotide or vector of theinvention which is present in the host cell may either be integratedinto the genome of the host cell or it may be maintainedextrachromosomally. The host cell can be any prokaryotic or eukaryoticcell, such as a bacterial, insect, fungal, plant, animal or human cell.Preferred fungal cells are, for example, those of the genusSaccharomyces, in particular those of the species S. cerevisiae. Theterm “prokaryotic” is meant to include all bacteria which can betransformed or transfected with a DNA or RNA molecules for theexpression of an antibody of the invention or the correspondingimmunoglobulin chains. Prokaryotic hosts may include gram negative aswell as gram positive bacteria such as, for example, E. coli, S.typhimurium, Serratia marcescens and Bacillus subtilis. The term“eukaryotic” is meant to include yeast, higher plant, insect andpreferably mammalian cells, most preferably NSO and CHO cells. Dependingupon the host employed in a recombinant production procedure, theantibodies or immunoglobulin chains encoded by the polynucleotide of thepresent invention may be glycosylated or may be non-glycosylated.Antibodies of the invention or the corresponding immunoglobulin chainsmay also include an initial methionine amino acid residue. Apolynucleotide of the invention can be used to transform or transfectthe host using any of the techniques commonly known to those of ordinaryskill in the art. Furthermore, methods for preparing fused, operablylinked genes and expressing them in, e.g., mammalian cells and bacteriaare well-known in the art (Sambrook, Molecular Cloning: A LaboratoryManual, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y., 1989).The genetic constructs and methods described therein can be utilized forexpression of the antibody of the invention or the correspondingimmunoglobulin chains in eukaryotic or prokaryotic hosts. In general,expression vectors containing promoter sequences which facilitate theefficient transcription of the inserted polynucleotide are used inconnection with the host. The expression vector typically contains anorigin of replication, a promoter, and a terminator, as well as specificgenes which are capable of providing phenotypic selection of thetransformed cells. Suitable source cells for the DNA sequences and hostcells for immunoglobulin expression and secretion can be obtained from anumber of sources, such as the American Type Culture Collection(“Catalogue of Cell Lines and Hybridomas,” Fifth edition (1985)Rockville, Md., U.S.A., which is incorporated herein by reference).Furthermore, transgenic animals, preferably mammals, comprising cells ofthe invention may be used for the large scale production of the antibodyof the invention.

The present invention also provides a method for preparing an antibodythat binds to an extracellular localized epitope of Hsp70 on tumorcells, or a functional fragment or immunoglobulin chain(s) thereof,thereof, said method comprising

-   -   (a) culturing a cell described above; and    -   (b) isolating said antibody or functional fragment or        immunoglobulin chain(s) thereof from the culture.

The expression systems are preferably designed to include signalpeptides so that the resulting antibodies are secreted into the medium;however, intracellular production is also possible.

The transformed hosts can be grown in fermentors and cultured accordingto techniques known in the art to achieve optimal cell growth. Onceexpressed, the whole antibodies, their dimers, individual light andheavy chains, or other immunoglobulin forms of the present invention,can be purified according to standard procedures of the art, includingammonium sulfate precipitation, affinity columns, column chromatography,gel electrophoresis and the like; see, Scopes, “Protein Purification”,Springer Verlag, N.Y. (1982). The antibody or its correspondingimmunoglobulin chain(s) of the invention can then be isolated from thegrowth medium, cellular lysates, or cellular membrane fractions. Theisolation and purification of the, e.g., microbially expressedantibodies or immunoglobulin chains of the invention may be by anyconventional means such as, for example, preparative chromatographicseparations and immunological separations such as those involving theuse of monoclonal or polyclonal antibodies directed, e.g., against theconstant region of the antibody of the invention. It will be apparent tothose skilled in the art that the antibodies of the invention can befurther coupled to other moieties for, e.g., drug targeting and imagingapplications. Such coupling may be conducted chemically after expressionof the antibody or antigen to site of attachment or the coupling productmay be engineered into the antibody or antigen of the invention at theDNA level. The DNAs are then expressed in a suitable host system, andthe expressed proteins are collected and renatured, if necessary.

Substantially pure immunoglobulins of at least about 90 to 95%homogeneity are preferred, and 98 to 99% or more homogeneity mostpreferred, for pharmaceutical uses. Once purified, partially or tohomogeneity as desired, the antibodies may then be used therapeutically(including extracorporeally) or in developing and performing assayprocedures.

The present invention also involves a method for producing cells capableof expressing an antibody of the invention or its correspondingimmunoglobulin chain(s) comprising genetically engineering cells withthe polynucleotide or with the vector of the invention. The cellsobtainable by the method of the invention can be used, for example, totest the interaction of the antibody of the invention with its antigen.

Furthermore, the present invention relates to a method of obtainingantibodies from hybridomas comprising a novel purification protocol asoutlined in example 2. While commont purification protocols may be usedfor obtaining antibodies of the invention, they may be less effectivethan the method described in example 2. Historically, Protein A has beenthe preferred method of immunoglobulin purification. However, there arecertain types of antibodies, such as the single-chain antibodies IgE,IgY and IgM that cannot be purified using the Protein A. An alternativemethod of immunoglobulin purification, thiophilic adsorptionchromatography, is ideal for these types of applications, as well asimmunoglobulin purification in general. For general references relatingto protein purification procedures including purification ofimmunoglobulins see for example the booklet from BD BiosciencesClontech, Pablo Alto, Calif., USA, www.clontech.com. Based on previousmethods using thiophilic agarose a novel purification protocol has beenestablished in accordance with the present invention, which isparticularly suitable for obtaining antibodies of the type IgG1, IgG2aand IgM from hybridomas, particular those hybridomas producingantibodies of the present invention being described herein. However, itis to be understood that the novel method for the purification ofantibodies is generally applicable and thus is also subject of thepresent invention. For experimental details, see example 2. In thisrespect, it is also to be understood that methods for obtainingantibodies including the purification protocol as described in example2, which may have minor modifications, e.g., in the composition of therespective buffers, wherein a deviation of +/−10% of the concentrationof the different ingredients may be tolerable, are also encompassed inthe scope of the present invention as well. Furthermore, the presentinvention relates to antibodies obtained by the novel method describedherein as well as to binding fragments of such antibodies. Naturally,the present invention also extends to derivatives of such antibodies andbinding fragments such as those described herein.

As mentioned before, the immunoglobulin or its encoding cDNAs may befurther modified. Thus, in a further embodiment the method of thepresent invention comprises any one of the step(s) of producing achimeric antibody, humanized antibody, single-chain antibody,Fab-fragment, bi-specific antibody, fusion antibody, labelled antibodyor an analog of any one of those. Corresponding methods are known to theperson skilled in the art and are described, e.g., in Harlow and Lane“Antibodies, A Laboratory Manual”, CSH Press, Cold Spring Harbor, 1988.When derivatives of said antibodies are obtained by the phage displaytechnique, surface plasmon resonance as employed in the BIAcore systemcan be used to increase the efficiency of phage antibodies which bind tothe same epitope as that of any one of the antibodies described herein(Schier, Human Antibodies hybridomas 7 (1996), 97-105; Malmborg, J.Immunol. Methods 183 (1995), 7-13). The production of chimericantibodies is described, for example, in WO89/09622. Methods for theproduction of humanized antibodies are described in, e.g., EP-A1 0 239400 and WO90/07861. A further source of antibodies to be utilized inaccordance with the present invention are so-called xenogeneicantibodies. The general principle for the production of xenogeneicantibodies such as human antibodies in mice is described in, e.g., WO91/10741, WO 94/02602, WO 96/34096 and WO 96/33735. As discussed above,the antibody of the invention may exist in a variety of forms besidescomplete antibodies; including, for example, Fv, Fab and F(ab)₂, as wellas in single chains; see, e.g., WO88/09344.

The antibodies of the present invention or their correspondingimmunoglobulin chain(s) can be further modified using conventionaltechniques known in the art, for example, by using amino aciddeletion(s), insertion(s), substitution(s), addition(s), and/orrecombination(s) and/or any other modification(s) known in the arteither alone or in combination. Methods for introducing suchmodifications in the DNA sequence underlying the amino acid sequence ofan immunoglobulin chain are well known to the person skilled in the art;see, e.g., Sambrook, Molecular Cloning A Laboratory Manual, Cold SpringHarbor Laboratory (1989) N.Y. and Ausubel, Current Protocols inMolecular Biology, Green Publishing Associates and Wiley Interscience,N.Y. (1994). Modifications of the antibody of the invention includechemical and/or enzymatic derivatizations at one or more constituentamino acids, including side chain modifications, backbone modifications,and N- and C-terminal modifications including acetylation,hydroxylation, methylation, amidation, and the attachment ofcarbohydrate or lipid moieties, cofactors, and the like. Likewise, thepresent invention encompasses the production of chimeric proteins whichcomprise the described antibody or some fragment thereof at the aminoterminus fused to heterologous molecule such as an immunostimulatoryligand at the carboxyl terminus; see, e.g., WO00/30680 for correspondingtechnical details.

Additionally, the present invention encompasses small polypeptidesincluding those containing a Hsp70 binding fragment as described above,for example containing the CDR3 region of the variable region of any oneof the mentioned monoclonal antibodies. Such peptides may easily besynthesized or produced by recombinant means to produce a Hsp70 bindingagent useful according to the invention. Such methods are well known tothose of ordinary skill in the art. Peptides can be synthesized forexample, using automated peptide synthesizers which are commerciallyavailable. The peptides can be produced by recombinant techniques byincorporating the DNA expressing the peptide into an expression vectorand transforming cells with the expression vector to produce thepeptide. The sequence of the CDR regions, for use in synthesizingpeptide Hsp70 binding agents, may be determined by methods known in theart. The heavy chain variable region is a peptide which generally rangesfrom 100 to 150 amino acids in length. The light chain variable regionis a peptide which generally ranges from 80 to 130 amino acids inlength. The CDR sequences within the heavy and light chain variableregions which include only approximately 3-25 amino acids may easily besequenced by one of ordinary skill in the art. The peptides may even besynthesized by commercial sources.

To determine whether a peptide binds to Hsp70 any known binding assaymay be employed. For example, the peptide may be immobilized on asurface and then contacted with labeled Hsp70. The amount of Hsp70 whichinteracts with the peptide or the amount which does not bind to thepeptide may then be quantitated to determine whether the peptide bindsto Hsp70. A surface having the aforementioned anti-Hsp70 monoclonalantibodies immobilized thereto may serve as a positive control.

Screening of Hsp70 binding agents also can be carried out utilizing acompetition assay. If the Hsp70 binding agent being tested competes withan anti-Hsp70 monoclonal antibody of the present invention, as shown bya decrease in binding of the monoclonal antibody, then it is likely thatthe agent and the anti-Hsp70 monoclonal antibody bind to the same, or aclosely related, epitope. Still another way to determine whether anagent has the specificity of the anti-Hsp70 monoclonal antibodiesdescribed above is to pre-incubate the monoclonal antibody with Hsp70with which it is normally reactive (i.e., binds), and then add the agentbeing tested to determine if the agent being tested is inhibited in itsability to bind Hsp70. If the agent being tested is inhibited then, inall likelihood, it has the same or a functionally equivalent epitope andspecificity as the anti-Hsp70 monoclonal antibodies.

Using routine procedures known to those of ordinary skill in the art,one can determine whether a Hsp70 binding agent is useful according tothe invention by determining whether the agent is one which modulates Tcell proliferation or cytotoxicity in an in vitro assay such asmeasuring release of TNF from T cells or by ⁵¹Cr release assay; see,e.g., Herin et al., Int. J. Cancer 39 (1987), 390-396. Other assays aredescribed in the Examples and elsewhere herein; see also WO02/22656.

The polypeptides (e.g. antibodies) and other Hsp70 binding agentsdescribed above can also be used immunotherapeutically for disorders inhumans. The term “immunotherapeutically” or “immunotherapy” as usedherein in conjunction with the Hsp70 binding agents denotes bothprophylactic as well as therapeutic administration. Thus, the peptidescan be administered to high-risk subjects in order to lessen thelikelihood and/or severity of a disease such as a tumor, or infectiousdisease, or administered to subjects already evidencing such diseases.

Hsp70 binding agents which increase or decrease NK cell activity can beselected using the assays described, for example, in WO02/22656 andaccording to standard killer cell cytotoxicity and proliferation assays,such as mixed lymphocyte reactions, chromium release assays, TNF releaseassays, and thymidine incorporation assays. It is believed that amono-valent Hsp70 binding agent, for example derivatives of single chainantibodies which have only one binding domain of the original antibody,will inhibit the stimulatory signal of Hsp70 by reducing Hsp70polypeptides expressed by target cells.

Hence, the present invention relates to any antibody and similar bindingmolecules, which preferably have substantially the same immunologicalbinding characteristics as mono-clonal antibodies cmHsp70.1 orcmHsp70.2, i.e. which recognize the same epitope and with substantiallythe same affinity, or at least 1/10 of the affinity as the antibodies ofthe invention exemplified herein. Such antibodies and binding moleculescan be tested for their binding specificity and affinity by for exampleby using competitive assays with an antibody produced by a hybridoma ofthe invention. The antibodies of the present invention will typicallyfind use individually in treating substantially any disease susceptibleto monoclonal antibody based therapy. In particular, the immunoglobulinscan be used as immunosuppressive agents. For an antibody of theinvention, typical disease states suitable for treatment includeinflammatory symptoms. The antibodies can be used therapeutically in,e.g., patients suffering an diseases related to immune response; seesupra. Such therapy can be accomplished by, for example, theadministration of antibodies of the invention.

Such administration can utilize unlabeled as well as labeled antibodiesor antigens. Labeling agents can be coupled either directly orindirectly to the antibodies or antigens of the invention. One exampleof indirect coupling is by use of a spacer moiety. Furthermore, theantibodies of the present invention can comprise a further domain, saiddomain being linked by covalent or non-covalent bonds. The linkage canbe based on genetic fusion according to the methods known in the art anddescribed above or can be performed by, e.g., chemical cross-linking asdescribed in, e.g., WO 94/04686. The additional domain present in thefusion protein comprising the antibody of the invention may preferablybe linked by a flexible linker, advantageously a polypeptide linker,wherein said polypeptide linker comprises plural, hydrophilic,peptide-bonded amino acids of a length sufficient to span the distancebetween the C-terminal end of said further domain and the N-terminal endof the antibody of the invention or vice versa. The above describedfusion protein may further comprise a cleavable linker or cleavage sitefor proteinases. These spacer moieties, in turn, can be either insolubleor soluble (Diener et al., Science 231 (1986), 148) and can be selectedto enable drug release from the antigen at the target site. Examples oftherapeutic agents which can be coupled to the antibodies, antigens andepitopes of the invention for immunotherapy are drugs, radioisotopes,lectins, and toxins. The drugs with which can be conjugated to theantibodies, antigens and epitopes of the invention include compoundswhich are classically referred to as drugs such as mitomycin C,daunorubicin, and vinblastine. In using radioisotopically conjugatedantibodies, antigens or epitopes of the invention for, e.g.,immunotherapy, certain isotopes may be more preferable than othersdepending on such factors as leukocyte distribution as well as stabilityand emission. Depending on the autoimmune response, some emitters may bepreferable to others. In general, α and β particle emittingradioisotopes are preferred in immunotherapy. Preferred are short range,high energy a emitters such as ²¹²Bi. Examples of radioisotopes whichcan be bound to the antibodies, antigens or epitopes of the inventionfor therapeutic purposes are ¹²⁵I, ¹³¹I, ⁹⁰Y, ⁶⁷Cu, ²¹²Bi, ²¹²At, ²¹¹Pb,⁴⁷Sc, ¹⁰⁹Pd and ¹⁸⁸Re. Other therapeutic agents which can be coupled tothe antibody, antigen or epitope of the invention, as well as ex vivoand in vivo therapeutic protocols, are known, or can be easilyascertained, by those of ordinary skill in the art. Wherever appropriatethe person skilled in the art may use a polynucleotide of the inventionencoding any one of the above described antibodies, antigens or thecorresponding vectors instead of the proteinaeous material itself.

As described above, the polynucleotide of the invention can be usedalone or as part of a vector to express the (poly)peptide of theinvention in cells. In principle this also enables gene therapy ofdiseases related to inappropriate expression of Hsp70 on the plasmamembrane. For example, it is envisaged to introduce a polynucleotide ora vector of the invention into a cell of the immune system, preferably acytotoxic killer cell in order to enable the cell to express a receptorcomprising the binding domain of an antibody of the present invention,which renders the cell capable of recognizing specifically tumor cellsor other diseased cells, which express Hsp70 on their cell surface. Thepolynucleotides or vectors of the invention are introduced into thecells which in turn produce the antibody or corresponding receptormolecules. Gene therapy, which is based on introducing therapeutic genesinto cells by ex-vivo or in-vivo techniques is one of the most importantapplications of gene transfer. Suitable vectors and methods for in-vitroor in-vivo gene therapy are described in the literature and are known tothe person skilled in the art; see, e.g., Giordano, Nature Medicine 2(1996), 534-539; Schaper, Circ. Res. 79 (1996), 911-919; Anderson,Science 256 (1992), 808-813; Isner, Lancet 348 (1996), 370-374;Muhlhauser, Circ. Res. 77 (1995), 1077-1086; Wang, Nature Medicine 2(1996), 714-716; WO94/29469; WO 97/00957 or Schaper, Current Opinion inBiotechnology 7 (1996), 635-640, and references cited therein. Thepolynucleotides and vectors of the invention may be designed for directintroduction or for introduction via liposomes, or viral vectors (e.g.adenoviral, retroviral) into the cell. Preferably, said cell is a germline cell, embryonic cell, or egg cell or derived therefrom, mostpreferably said cell is a stem cell.

Plasma membrane bound Hsp70 interacts with other cell surface molecules,and it is reasonable to assume that agents modulating these interactionswill have beneficial, additive and preferably synergistic effects on thetreatment of diseases and conditions, wherein either of these proteinsare involved in. Furthermore, such agents are expected to be useful indiagnosis, where the presence or absence of either of said proteins isassociated with said disease or condition. Accordingly, the presentinvention also provides novel bi- or multifunctional molecules thatcomprise the binding domain of an antibody according to the invention,an immunoglobulin chain thereof or a binding fragment thereof which bindcell surface membrane-bound heat shock protein (HSP70), and at least onefurther functional domain; see also supra. In a preferred embodimentsaid bi- or multifunctional molecule is bispecific molecule,particularly preferred a bispecific antibody.

The term “bispecific molecule” includes molecules which have at leastthe two mentioned binding domains directly or indirectly linked byphysical or chemical means. However, the bispecific molecule of thepresent invention may comprise further functional domains such asadditional binding domains and/or moieties such as a cytotoxic agent ora label and the like; see also supra.

Means and methods for the preparation of multivalent, multispecificmolecules having at least one specificity for a desired antigen areknown to the person skilled in the art. For example, WO99/59633describes multimeric molecules with at least one specificity for the HLAclass II invariant chain (Ii) and their use for the clearance oftherapeutic or diagnostic agents, autoantibodies, anti-graft antibodies,and other undesirable compounds. As used herein, unless otherwiseindicated or clear from the context, antibody or binding domains,regions and fragments are accorded standard definitions as are wellknown in the art; see, e.g., Abbas et al., Cellular and MolecularImmunology (1991), W. B. Saunders Company, Philadelphia, Pa.

Certain bispecific molecules of the present invention are used forbinding to antigen or to block interaction of a protein and its ligand;their use to promote interactions between immune cells and target cellshowever is preferred. Finally, antigen-binding molecules of theinvention are used to localize immune cells, tumor cells, infectedcells, anti-tumor agents, target moieties, reporter molecules ordetectable signal producing agents to an antigen of interest.

Bispecific molecules of the invention can cross-link antigens on targetcells with antigens on immune system effector cells. This can be useful,for example, for promoting immune responses directed against cells whichhave a particular antigens of interest on the cell surface. According tothe invention, immune system effector cells include antigen specificcells such as T cells which activate cellular immune responses andnonspecific cells such as macrophages, neutrophils and natural killer(NK) cells which mediate cellular immune responses. Hence, bispecificmolecules of the invention can have a further binding site for any cellsurface antigen of an immune system effector cell. Such cell surfaceantigens include, for example, cytokine and lymphokine receptors, Fcreceptors, CD3, CD16, CD28, CD32, CD64 and CD94. In general, antigenbinding sites are provided by scFvs which are derived from antibodies tothe aforementioned antigens and which are well known in the art.Antigen-binding sites of the invention which are specific for cytokineand lymphokine receptors can also be sequences of amino acids whichcorrespond to all or part of the natural ligand for the receptor. Forexample, where the cell-surface antigen is an IL-2 receptor, anantigen-binding protein of the invention can have an antigen-bindingsite which comprises a sequence of amino acids corresponding to IL-2.Other cytokines and lymphokines include, for example, interleukins suchas interleukin-4 (IL-4), interleukin-5 (IL-5), interleukin-15 (IL-15)and colony-stimulating factors (CSFs) such as granulocyte-macrophage CSF(GM-CSF), and granulocyte CSF (G-CSF).

In addition, any one of the described bispecific molecules may contain abinding domain binding FcgammaRI on activated effector cells. Theclinical potential of this approach for the treatment of tumors such asB cell malignancies looks most attractive. Triggering of antitumorimmunity by expression of anti-FcgammaR scFv on cancer cell surface hasbeen described by Gruel et al., Gene Ther. 8 (2001), 1721-1728.

In addition or alternatively, the bispecific molecule of the inventionmay comprise a binding domain binding CD3. This embodiment isparticularly useful for the treatment of carcinoma; see, e.g.,Riesenberg et al., J. Histochem. Cytochem. 49 (2001), 911-917, whichreport on the lysis of prostate carcinoma cells by trifunctionalbispecific antibodies (alpha EpCAM×alpha CD3).

These and other combinations of functional domains in the bispecificmolecule of the present invention and uses thereof are encompassed bythe present invention.

In a preferred embodiment, the bispecific molecule of the presentinvention is a bispecific antibody. The bispecific antibodies maycomprise Fc constant regions, for example for association of thepolypeptide chains comprising the binding domains. In addition toproviding for association of the polypeptide chains, Fc constant domainscontribute other immunoglobulin functions. The functions includeactivation of complement mediated cytotoxicity, activation of antibodydependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity and Fc receptor binding. Whenantigen-binding proteins of the invention are administered for treatmentor diagnostic purposes, the Fc constant domains can also contribute toserum halflife. The Fc constant domains can be from any mammalian oravian species. When antigen binding proteins of the invention are usedfor treatment of humans, constant domains of human origin are preferred,although the variable domains can be non-human. In cases where humanvariable domains are preferred, chimeric scFvs can be used. Furthermeans and methods for the production of bispecific antibodies aredescribed in the art; see, e.g., WO97/14719 which describes a processfor producing bispecific or bivalent double head antibody fragments,which are composed of a binding complex containing two polypeptidechains, and WO01/80883. Furthermore, the bispecific molecules of theinvention can be optimized in their avidity for antigen(s) whilemaintaining their ability to function as a natural antibody, includingthe ability to activate complement mediated cytotoxicity and antibodydependent cellular toxicity; see, e.g., WO01/90192.

Furthermore, the present invention relates to a composition comprising,the antibody, the bi- or multifunctional molecule, the polynucleotide orthe above described vector or cell of the invention. The composition ofthe present invention may further comprise a pharmaceutically acceptablecarrier.

Additionally moieties may be added that improve the solubility,half-life, absorption, etc. of the base molecule. Alternatively themoieties may attenuate undesirable side effects of the base molecule ordecrease the toxicity of the base molecule. Examples of such moietiesare described in a variety of texts, such as Remington's PharmaceuticalSciences. Examples of suitable pharmaceutical carriers are well known inthe art and include phosphate buffered saline solutions, water,emulsions, such as oil/water emulsions, various types of wetting agents,sterile solutions etc. Compositions comprising such carriers can beformulated by well known conventional methods. These pharmaceuticalcompositions can be administered to the subject at a suitable dose.Administration of the suitable compositions may be effected by differentways, e.g., by intravenous, intraperitoneal, subcutaneous,intramuscular, topical or intradermal administration. Aerosolformulations such as nasal spray formulations include purified aqueousor other solutions of the active agent with preservative agents andisotonic agents. Such formulations are preferably adjusted to a pH andisotonic state compatible with the nasal mucous membranes. Formulationsfor rectal or vaginal administration may be presented as a suppositorywith a suitable carrier.

The dosage regimen will be determined by the attending physician andclinical factors. As is well known in the medical arts, dosages for anyone patient depends upon many factors, including the patient's size,body surface area, age, the particular compound to be administered, sex,time and route of administration, general health, and other drugs beingadministered concurrently. A typical dose can be, for example, in therange of 0.001 to 1000 μg (or of nucleic acid for expression or forinhibition of expression in this range); however, doses below or abovethis exemplary range are envisioned, especially considering theaforementioned factors. Generally, the regimen as a regularadministration of the pharmaceutical composition should be in the rangeof 1 μg to 10 mg units per day. If the regimen is a continuous infusion,it should also be in the range of 1 μg to 10 mg units per kilogram ofbody weight per minute, respectively. Progress can be monitored byperiodic assessment. Dosages will vary but a preferred dosage forintravenous administration of DNA is from approximately 10⁶ to 10¹²copies of the DNA molecule. The compositions of the invention may beadministered locally or systemically. Administration will generally beparenterally, e.g., intravenously; DNA may also be administered directlyto the target site, e.g., by biolistic delivery to an internal orexternal target site or by catheter to a site in an artery. Preparationsfor parenteral administration include sterile aqueous or non-aqueoussolutions, suspensions, and emulsions. Examples of non-aqueous solventsare propylene glycol, polyethylene glycol, vegetable oils such as oliveoil, and injectable organic esters such as ethyl oleate. Aqueouscarriers include water, alcoholic/aqueous solutions, emulsions orsuspensions, including saline and buffered media. Parenteral vehiclesinclude sodium chloride solution, Ringer's dextrose, dextrose and sodiumchloride, lactated Ringer's, or fixed oils. Intravenous vehicles includefluid and nutrient replenishers, electrolyte replenishers (such as thosebased on Ringer's dextrose), and the like. Preservatives and otheradditives may also be present such as, for example, antimicrobials,anti-oxidants, chelating agents, and inert gases and the like.Furthermore, the pharmaceutical composition of the invention maycomprise further agents such as interleukins or interferons depending onthe intended use of the pharmaceutical composition. Furthermore, thepharmaceutical composition may also be formulated as a vaccine, forexample, if the pharmaceutical composition of the invention comprises abispecific molecule described above for passive immunization.

Therapeutic or diagnostic compositions of the invention are administeredto an individual in a therapeutically effective dose sufficient to treator diagnose disorders as mentioned above. The effective amount may varyaccording to a variety of factors such as the individual's condition,weight, sex and age. Other factors include the mode of administration.The pharmaceutical compositions may be provided to the individual by avariety of routes such as by intracoronary, intraperitoneal,subcutaneous, intravenous, transdermal, intrasynovial, intramuscular ororal routes. In addition, co-administration or sequential administrationof other agents may be desirable. A therapeutically effective doserefers to that amount of active molecule of the invention sufficient toameliorate the symptoms or condition. Therapeutic efficacy and toxicityof such compounds can be determined by standard pharmaceuticalprocedures in cell cultures or experimental animals, e.g., ED50 (thedose therapeutically effective in 50% of the population) and LD50 (thedose lethal to 50% of the population). The dose ratio betweentherapeutic and toxic effects is the therapeutic index, and it can beexpressed as the ratio, LD50/ED50.

The pharmaceutical composition of the present invention furthercomprises an immune stimulatory agent in a preferred embodiment. Immunestimulatory agents are used to enhance an immune reaction or to inducean immune reaction against epitopes which do not trigger an humoral orcytotoxic defence reaction under normal conditions. Such agents are wellknown in the art and can be chosen from a wide variety of molecules suchas co-stimulatory molecules, e.g. cytokines and/or adjuvants.

An “adjuvant” refers to a substance that enhances an immune response,including, for example, but not limited to, an antigen'simmune-stimulating properties or the pharmacological effect(s) of acompound or drug. An adjuvant may non-specifically enhance an immuneresponse, e.g., the immune response to an antigen. “Freund's CompleteAdjuvant,” for example, is an emulsion of oil and water containing animmunogen, an emulsifying agent and mycobacteria. Another example,“Freund's incomplete adjuvant,” is the same, but without mycobacteria.An adjuvant may comprise oils, emulsifiers, killed bacteria, aluminumhydroxide, or calcium phosphate (e.g., in gel form), or combinationsthereof. An adjuvant may be administered into a subject (e.g., viainjection intramuscularly or subcutaneously) in an amount sufficient toproduce antibodies. Comparison of the effect of different immunologicaladjuvants on the antibody and T-cell response to immunization withMUC1-KLH and GD3-KLH conjugate cancer vaccines in the mouse has beendescribed in Kim et al., Vaccine 18 (1999), 597-603. In this publicationalso ELISA assays for IgM and IgG antibody responses as well asproliferation and cytokine release (IFN-gamma and IL-4) for T-cellresponses are described, which can also be performed in accordance withthe present invention.

The present invention also refers to a diagnostic composition comprisingan antibody, a bi- or multifunctional molecule, a polynucleotide, avector or a cell according to the invention; and optionally reagentsconventionally used in immuno or nucleic acid based diagnostic methods.

For use in diagnosis, a variety of techniques are available for labelingbiomolecules, are well known to the person skilled in the art and areconsidered to be within the scope of the present invention. Suchtechniques are, e.g., described in Tijssen, “Practice and theory ofenzyme immuno assays”, Burden, R H and von Knippenburg (Eds), Volume 15(1985), “Basic methods in molecular biology”; Davis L G, Dibmer M D;Battey Elsevier (1990), Mayer et al., (Eds) “Immunochemical methods incell and molecular biology”, Academic Press, London (1987), or in theseries “Methods in Enzymology”, Academic Press, Inc. There are manydifferent labels and methods of labeling known to those of ordinaryskill in the art. Commonly used labels comprise, inter alia,fluorochromes (like fluorescein, rhodamine, Texas Red, etc.), enzymes(like horse radish peroxidase, β-galactosidase, alkaline phosphatase),radioactive isotopes (like ³²P or ¹²⁵I), biotin, digoxygenin, colloidalmetals, chemi- or bioluminescent compounds (like dioxetanes, luminol oracridiniums). Labeling procedures, like covalent coupling of enzymes orbiotinyl groups, iodinations, phosphorylations, biotinylations, randompriming, nick-translations, tailing (using terminal transferases) arewell known in the art. Detection methods comprise, but are not limitedto, autoradiography, fluorescence microscopy, direct and indirectenzymatic reactions, etc.

In addition, the above described compounds etc. may be attached to asolid phase. Solid phases are known to those in the art and may comprisepolystyrene beads, latex beads, magnetic beads, colloid metal particles,glass and/or silicon chips and surfaces, nitrocellulose strips,membranes, sheets, animal red blood cells, or red blood cell ghosts,duracytes and the walls of wells of a reaction tray, plastic tubes orother test tubes. Suitable methods of immobilizing bispecific moleculesof the invention on solid phases include but are not limited to ionic,hydrophobic, covalent interactions and the like. The solid phase canretain one or more additional receptor(s) which has/have the ability toattract and immobilize the region as defined above. This receptor cancomprise a charged substance that is oppositely charged with respect tothe reagent itself or to a charged substance conjugated to the capturereagent or the receptor can be any specific binding partner which isimmobilized upon (attached to) the solid phase and which is able toimmobilize the reagent as defined above.

Commonly used detection assays can comprise radioisotopic ornon-radioisotopic methods. These comprise, inter alia, RIA(Radioisotopic Assay) and IRMA (Immune Radioimmunometric Assay), EIA(Enzym Immuno Assay), ELISA (Enzyme Linked Immuno Assay), FIA(Fluorescent Immuno Assay), and CLIA (Chemiluminescent Immune Assay).Other detection methods that are used in the art are those that do notutilize tracer molecules. One prototype of these methods is theagglutination assay, based on the property of a given molecule to bridgeat least two particles.

Nucleic acid based diagnostic format are also well known to the personskilled in the art and include, but are not limited to, hybridisation ofSouthern or Northern blots, PCR, sequencing, RFLP and SSCP analyses.

The present invention also relates to a kit comprising an antibody or abispecific molecule of the invention. Such kits are useful for a varietyof purposes including but not limited to forensic analyses, diagnosticapplications, and epidemiological studies in accordance with the abovedescribed diseases and disorders. Such a kit would typically comprise acompartmentalized carrier suitable to hold in close confinement at leastone container. The carrier would further comprise reagents for detectionsuch as labeled antigen or enzyme substrates or the like.

Naturally the present invention also encompasses a method of diagnosinga tumor comprising assaying cells in a sample from a patient with theantibody, or the bi- or multifunctional molecule according to theinvention, wherein the presence or increased amount of extracellularlocalized Hsp70 is indicative for the tumor.

This method preferably comprises an immunological step. Commonly useddiagnostic methods employing antibodies and/or bi- or multifunctionalmolecules are for example immunohistochemistry on frozen or paraffinembedded tissue sections, Western blots, immunoprecipitation etc.Optionally, easy to detect signal producing agents can be used inconjunction with said antibodies or bi- or multifunctional molecules.

Detectable signal-producing agents are useful in vivo and in vitro fordiagnostic purposes. The signal producing agent produces a measurablesignal which is detectable by external means, usually the measurement ofelectromagnetic radiation. For the most part, the signal producing agentis an enzyme or chromophore, or emits light by fluorescence,phosphorescence or chemiluminescence. Chromophores include dyes whichabsorb light in the ultraviolet or visible wavelength range, and can besubstrates or degradation products of enzyme catalyzed reactions.

As described before, the compositions of the present invention areuseful in diagnosis, prophylaxis, vaccination or therapy. Accordingly,the present invention relates to the use of the antibody, the bi- ormultifunctional molecule, the nucleic acid molecule or the cell of thepresent invention for the preparation of a pharmaceutical compositionfor the treatment of a tumor or modulating an immune response.

For these embodiments, the antibodies or the bi- or multifunctionalmolecules of the invention can be chemically or biosynthetically linkedto anti-tumor agents or detectable signal-producing agents; see alsosupra. Antitumor agents linked to a bispecific molecule, for example abispecific antibody, include any agents which destroy or damage a tumorto which the antibody has bound or in the environment of the cell towhich the antibody has bound. For example, an anti-tumor agent is atoxic agent such as a chemotherapeutic agent or a radioisotope. Suitablechemotherapeutic agents are known to those skilled in the art andinclude anthracyclines (e.g. daunomycin and doxorubicin), methotrexate,vindesine, neocarzinostatin, cis-platinum, chlorambucil, cytosinearabinoside, 5-fluorouridine, melphalan, ricin and calicheamicin. Thechemotherapeutic agents are conjugated to the antibody usingconventional methods; see, e.g., Hermentin and Seiler, Behring Inst.Mitt. 82 (1988), 197-215. A method of treating a tumor or modulating theimmune response in a subject in need thereof, usually comprisesadministering to the subject a therapeutically effective amount of theantibody or the bi- or multifunctional molecule. As mentioned above, atherapeutically effective dose refers to that amount of active moleculeof the invention sufficient to ameliorate the symptoms or condition.Therapeutic efficacy and toxicity of such compounds can be determined bystandard pharmaceutical procedures in cell cultures or experimentalanimals; see also supra.

For the purpose of this invention said pharmaceutical composition ispreferably designed to be administered intravenously, intramuscularly,subcutaneously, intraperitoneally, or as an aerosol.

Preferably, the tumor to be treated or diagnosed is selected from thegroup consisting of carcinomas of lung, colorectum, pancreas, larynx,stomach, head, neck, breast, ovaries, uterine, cervix, liver, peripheraland central nervous system, sarcomas, chronic myeloic leukemia (CML),acute myeloic leukemia (AML), acute lymphatic leukemia (ALL), nonHodgkin Lymphoma (NHL), myeloproliferative syndrome (MPS),myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), plasmocytoma, melanoma and metastaticcells in general.

Also encompassed by the uses and methods of the present invention aredisorders related to an immune response which include, but are notlimited to a viral infections, bacterial infections, rheumatoidarthritis, lupus erythematodes, asthma bronchiale etc.

The terms “treatment”, “treating” and the like are used herein togenerally mean obtaining a desired pharmacological and/or physiologicaleffect. The effect may be prophylactic in terms of completely orpartially preventing a disease or symptom thereof and/or may betherapeutic in terms of partially or completely curing a disease and/oradverse effect attributed to the disease. The term “treatment” as usedherein covers any treatment of a disease in a mammal, particularly ahuman, and includes: (a) preventing the disease from occurring in asubject which may be predisposed to the disease but has not yet beendiagnosed as having it; (b) inhibiting the disease, i.e. arresting itsdevelopment; or (c) relieving the disease, i.e. causing regression ofthe disease.

Furthermore, the term “subject” as employed herein relates to animals inneed of amelioration, treatment and/or prevention of a neoplastic orinfectious disease. Most preferably said subject is a human.

Since the exclusive expression of Hsp70 on the surface of diseaserelated cells, the invention provides the means for the targeteddelivery to these cells while avoiding the normal cells. This is ofparticular advantage if toxic moieties are linked to a therapeuticmolecule as described above. Such a method of targeting a therapeuticand/or diagnostic agent to a cell which expresses an extracellularlocalized epitope of Hsp70 on the cell surface comprises administeringto the subject a therapeutically effective amount of a bi- ormultifunctional molecule of the invention. The use of a bi- ormultifunctional molecule for targeting a therapeutic and/or diagnosticagent to a cell which expresses an extracellular localized epitope ofHsp70 on the cell surface is, of course, a preferred embodiment of thisinvention. Said targeted cell can either be preferably a tumor cell or acell related to an immune disorder or an infectious disease.

From the foregoing, it is evident that the present invention encompassesany use of a ligand binding molecule comprising at least one CDR of theabove described antibody, in particular for diagnosing and/or treatmentof a disorder related to the expression or malfunction of Hsp70 on thecell surface of target cells, in particular tumor cells or infectedcells. Preferably, said ligand binding molecule is an antibody of thepresent invention or an immunoglobulin chain thereof. In addition, thepresent invention relates to anti-idiotypic antibodies of any one of thementioned monoclonal antibodies described hereinbefore. These areantibodies or other binding molecules which bind to the unique antigenicpeptide sequence located on an antibody's variable region near theantigen binding site. One concept for immune therapy of cancer involvesinduction of antigen mimic antibodies to trigger the immune system intoa response against the tumor cells. Anti-idiotypic antibodies (Ab2)directed against the antigen-combining site of other antibodies (Ab1)may functionally and even structurally mimic antigen and induceanti-anti-idiotypic immune response. An example of functional mimicry ofan anti-idiotypic antibody to a murine monoclonal immunoglobulin (Ab1),which defines ovarian cancer antigen CA125, is described in Ma et al.,Jpn. J. Cancer Res. 93 (2002), 78-84. A murine monoclonal anti-idiotypicantibody as a surrogate antigen for human Her-2/neu is described inBaral et al., Int. J. Cancer 92 (2001), 88 95. Further examples compriseactive immunotherapy with anti-idiotypic antibody for patients withnasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC), described by Li et al., Cancer Biother.Radiopharm. 17 (2002), 673-679 and anti-idiotypic antibodies carryingthe “internal image” of peptide YIGSR inhibit spontaneous metastasis ofLewis lung carcinoma in mice described by Koliakos et al. in In Vivo 16(2002), 511-518. Preferably, the anti-idiotypic antibody is humanized;see also supra.

The biological activity of the antibodies identified here suggests thatthey have sufficient affinity to make them potential candidates for druglocalization to cells expressing the appropriate surface structures.This targeting and binding to cells could be useful for the delivery oftherapeutically or diagnostically active agents (including targetingdrugs, DNA sequences, RNA sequences, lipids, proteins (e.g., humangrowth factors)) and gene therapy/gene delivery. Molecules/particleswith an antibody of the invention would bind specifically tocells/tissues expressing Hsp70 on the cell surface, and therefore couldhave diagnostic and therapeutic use. Thus, the antibody or the antigenof the present invention can be labeled (e.g., fluorescent, radioactive,enzyme, nuclear magnetic) and used to detect specific targets in vivo orin vitro including “immunochemistry” like assays in vitro. In vivo theycould be used in a manner similar to nuclear medicine imaging techniquesto detect tissues, cells, or other material expressing Hsp70, inparticular on the cell surface of target cells. Another method involvesdelivering a therapeutically active agent to a patient. The methodincludes administering at least one antibody or the antigen-bindingfragment and the therapeutically active agent to a patient. Preferably,the therapeutically active agent is selected from drugs, DNA sequences,RNA sequences, proteins, lipids, and combinations thereof. Morepreferably, the therapeutically active agent is an antibacterial agent,anti-inflammatory agent, or antineoplastic agent.

The therapeutically or diagnostically active agent can be coupled to theantibody of the invention or an antigen-binding fragment thereof byvarious means. This includes, for example, single-chain fusion proteinscomprising the variable regions of the antibody of the invention coupledby covalent methods, such as peptide linkages, to the therapeutically ordiagnostically active agent. Further examples include molecules whichcomprise at least an antigen-binding fragment coupled to additionalmolecules covalently or non-covalently include those in the followingnon-limiting illustrative list. Traunecker, Int. J. Cancer Surp. SuDP 7(1992), 51-52, describe the bispecific reagent janusin in which the Fvregion directed to CD3 is coupled to soluble CD4 or to other ligandssuch as OVCA and IL-7. Similarly, the variable regions of the antibodyof the invention can be constructed into Fv molecules and coupled toalternative ligands such as those illustrated in the cited article.Higgins, J. Infect Disease 166 (1992), 198-202, described ahetero-conjugate antibody composed of OKT3 cross-linked to an antibodydirected to a specific sequence in the V3 region of GP120. Suchhetero-conjugate antibodies can also be constructed using at least thevariable regions contained in the antibody of the invention methods.Additional examples of specific antibodies include those described byFanger, Cancer Treat. Res. 68 (1993), 181-194 and by Fanger, Crit. Rev.Immunol. 12 (1992), 101-124. Conjugates that are immunotoxins includingconventional antibodies have been widely described in the art. Thetoxins may be coupled to the antibodies by conventional couplingtechniques or immunotoxins containing protein toxin portions can beproduced as fusion proteins. The antibodies of the present invention canbe used in a corresponding way to obtain such immunotoxins. Illustrativeof such immunotoxins are those described by Byers, Seminars Cell. Biol.2 (1991), 59-70 and by Fanger, Immunol. Today 12 (1991), 51-54.

The invention further contemplates linking molecules of the invention totarget or reporter moieties. Target moieties are first members ofbinding pairs. Anti-tumor agents, for example, are conjugated to secondmembers of such pairs and are thereby directed to the site where theantigen-binding protein is bound. A common example of such a bindingpair is adivin and biotin. Biotin can be conjugated to an molecule ofthe invention, and thereby provides a target for an anti-tumor agent orother moiety which is conjugated to avidin or streptavidin.Alternatively, biotin or another such moiety is linked to a molecule ofthe invention and used as a reporter, for example in a diagnostic systemwhere a detectable signal-producing agent is conjugated to avidin orstreptavidin. Suitable radioisotopes for use as anti-tumor agents arealso known to those skilled in the art. For example, ¹³¹I or ²¹¹At isused. These isotopes are attached to the antibody using conventionaltechniques; see, e.g., Pedley et al., Br. J. Cancer 68 (1993), 69-73.Alternatively, the anti-tumor agent which is attached to the antibody isan enzyme which activates a prodrug. In this way, a prodrug isadministered which remains in its inactive form until it reaches thetumor site where it is converted to its cytotoxic form once the antibodycomplex is administered. In practice, the antibody-enzyme conjugate isadministered to the patient and allowed to localize in the region of thetissue to be treated. The prodrug is then administered to the patient sothat conversion to the cytotoxic drug occurs in the region of the tissueto be treated. Alternatively, the anti-tumor agent conjugated to theantibody is a cytokine such as interleukin-2 (IL-2), interleukin-4(IL-4), interleukin-15 (IL-15) or tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α).The antibody targets the cytokine to the tumor so that the cytokinemediates damage to or destruction of the tumor without affecting othertissues. The cytokine is fused to the antibody at the DNA level usingconventional recombinant DNA techniques.

By a further embodiment as mentioned before, the ligand bindingmolecules and antibodies of the invention may also be used in a methodfor the diagnosis of Hsp70-related diseases in an individual byobtaining a body fluid sample from the tested individual which may be ablood sample, a lymph sample or any other body fluid sample andcontacting the body fluid sample with an antibody of the invention underconditions enabling the formation of antibody-antigen complexes.Similarly, biopsy or other specimen may be taken common in tumordiagnostic. The level of such complexes is then determined by methodsknown in the art, a level significantly higher than that formed in acontrol sample indicating the disease in the tested individual. In thesame manner, the specific antigen bound by the antibodies of theinvention may also be used. Thus, the present invention relates to an invitro immunoassay comprising the antibody or the antigen of theinvention.

These and other embodiments are disclosed and encompassed by thedescription and examples of the present invention. Further literatureconcerning any one of the materials, methods, uses and compounds to beemployed in accordance with the present invention may be retrieved frompublic libraries and databases, using for example electronic devices.For example the public database “Medline” may be utilized, which ishosted by the National Center for Biotechnology Information and/or theNational Library of Medicine at the National Institutes of Health.Further databases and web addresses, such as those of the EuropeanBioinformatics Institute (EBI), which is part of the European MolecularBiology Laboratory (EMBL) are known to the person skilled in the art andcan also be obtained using internet search engines. An overview ofpatent information in biotechnology and a survey of relevant sources ofpatent information useful for retrospective searching and for currentawareness is given in Berks, TIBTECH 12 (1994), 352-364.

The contents of all cited references (including literature references,issued patents, published patent applications as cited throughout thisapplication and manufacturer's specifications, instructions, etc) arehereby expressly incorporated by reference; however, there is noadmission that any document cited is indeed prior art as to the presentinvention.

The above disclosure generally describes the present invention. A morecomplete understanding can be obtained by reference to the followingspecific examples which are provided herein for purposes of illustrationonly and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention.

EXAMPLES

The examples which follow further illustrate the invention, but shouldnot be construed to limit the scope of the invention in any way.Detailed descriptions of conventional methods, such as those employedherein can be found in the cited literature; see also “The Merck Manualof Diagnosis and Therapy” Seventeenth Ed. ed by Beers and Berkow (Merck& Co., Inc. 2003).

The practice of the present invention will employ, unless otherwiseindicated, conventional techniques of cell biology, cell culture,molecular biology, transgenic biology, microbiology, recombinant DNA,and immunology, which are within the skill of the art. Particularlyuseful means and methods for the recombinant production of bispecificmolecules are described in WO94/13804, WO01/80883 and WO01/90192. Allreferences mentioned herein are incorporated in their entirety.

Methods in molecular genetics and genetic engineering are describedgenerally in the current editions of Molecular Cloning: A LaboratoryManual, (Sambrook et al., (1989) Molecular Cloning: A Laboratory Manual,2nd ed., Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press); DNA Cloning, Volumes Iand II (Glover ed., 1985); Oligonucleotide Synthesis (Gait ed., 1984);Nucleic Acid Hybridization (Hames and Higgins eds. 1984); TranscriptionAnd Translation (Hames and Higgins eds. 1984); Culture Of Animal Cells(Freshney and Alan, Liss, Inc., 1987); Gene Transfer Vectors forMammalian Cells (Miller and Calos, eds.); Current Protocols in MolecularBiology and Short Protocols in Molecular Biology, 3rd Edition (Ausubelet al., eds.); and Recombinant DNA Methodology (Wu, ed., AcademicPress). Gene Transfer Vectors For Mammalian Cells (Miller and Calos,eds., 1987, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory); Methods In Enzymology, Vols.154 and 155 (Wu et al., eds.); Immobilized Cells And Enzymes (IRL Press,1986); Perbal, A Practical Guide To Molecular Cloning (1984); thetreatise, Methods In Enzymology (Academic Press, Inc., N.Y.);Immunochemical Methods In Cell And Molecular Biology (Mayer and Walker,eds., Academic Press, London, 1987); Handbook Of ExperimentalImmunology, Volumes I-IV (Weir and Blackwell, eds., 1986). Reagents,cloning vectors, and kits for genetic manipulation referred to in thisdisclosure are available from commercial vendors such as BioRad,Stratagene, Invitrogen, and Clontech. General techniques in cell cultureand media collection are outlined in Large Scale Mammalian Cell Culture(Hu et al., Curr. Opin. Biotechnol. 8 (1997), 148); Serum-free Media(Kitano, Biotechnology 17 (1991), 73); Large Scale Mammalian CellCulture (Curr. Opin. Biotechnol. 2 (1991), 375); and Suspension Cultureof Mammalian Cells (Birch et al., Bioprocess Technol. 19 (1990), 251);Extracting information from cDNA arrays, Herzel et al., CHAOS 11,(2001), 98-107.

Example 1 Providing Hybridomas Expressing cmHsp70.1 and cmHsp70.2

Mice were immunized with peptide TKDNNLLGRFELSG (SEQ ID NO: 2) andboosted according to an improved protocol by the inventors. Afterestablishing several cell-lines producing antibodies that could bedetermined to recognize Hsp70, two hybridomas could be identified thatproduce antibodies capable of binding an epitope of Hsp70 that islocalized extracellularly on tumor cells. In particular, cmHsp70.1 asproduced by hybridoma cmHsp70.1, deposited with the DSMZ-DeutscheSammlung von Mikroorganismen und Zellkulturen GmbH, Mascheroder Weg 1b,D-38124 Braunschweig, Germany on Nov. 14, 2003, and assigned AccessionNumber DSM ACC2629, and cmHsp70.2 as produced by hybridoma cmHsp70.2,deposited with the DSMZ-Deutsche Sammlung von Mikroorganismen undZellkulturen GmbH on Nov. 14, 2003, and assigned Accession Number DSMACC2630 are provided. The anti-Hsp70 antibody produced by hybridomacmHsp70.1 was determined to be an IgG-type immunoglobulin while theanti-Hsp70 antibody produced by hybridoma cmHsp70.2 is an IgM-typeimmunoglobulin.

Example 2 Purification of Antibodies cmHsp70.1 and cmHsp70.2 byThiophilic Chromatography

Since previous protocols for purification of immunoglobulins turned outto be cumbersome for the purification of anti-Hsp70 antibodies, a novelpurification protocol has been established, comprising hydrophobicinteraction chromatography (HIC) and the following materials andmethods.

Material

Column material: T-Gel™ Adsorbent (Pierce, Product number: 20500)

Volume: 10 ml

Binding capacity: 20 mg immunoglobulins/ml gelWet bead diameter: 45-165 μm (6% beaded agarose)Äkta Prime FPLC system (Amersham Biosciences)

Supernatants were derived from approx. 1000 ml Hybridoma supernatantfrom clone cmHsp70.1 or cmHsp70.2, cultured in RPMI1640/10% FCS orDEMEM/20% FCS, respectively. Supernatants from 48 h incubations at astarting cell density of 0.2×10⁶ cells/ml were harvested and centrifugedat 300×g (5 min, 4° C.) following a 1000×g centrifugation (5 min, 4°C.). The supernatants were stored at 4° C.

Chemicals were obtained by Sigma (Na₃PO₄;NaN₃) or Roth ((NH₄)₂SO₄;Tris),all buffer were made with millipore water.

Buffers

-   Binding buffer: 0.5 M ammonium sulfate, 50 mM sodium phosphate and    0.05% sodium azide, pH 8.0    -   16.5 g (NH₄)₂SO₄    -   1.78 g Na₃PO₄    -   125 mg NaN₃    -   pH 8.0, ad 250 ml        Elution buffer: 50 mM sodium phosphate and 0.05% sodium azide,        pH 8.0    -   1.78 g Na₃PO₄    -   125 mg NaN₃    -   pH 8.0, ad 250 ml        Storage buffer: 0.5 M Tris and 0.02% sodium azide, pH 7.4    -   15.1 g Tris    -   50 mg NaN₃    -   pH 7.4, ad 250 ml

Sample Preparation

While mixing, 66 mg of ammonium sulfate were added per ml of clarifiedhybridoma supernatant; see supra. The final concentration was 0.5 Mammonium sulfate in the sample. The hybridoma supernatant was gentlymixed to avoid denaturation of immunoglobulins by local high saltconcentration or air. When the ammonium sulfate is fully dissolved, thesample was adjusted to pH 8.0 and centrifuged at 1000×g. The supernatantwas carefully removed and passed through a 0.8 μm cell culture filter(Nalgene, Product number: 126-0020).

Equilibration of the Column

The Äkta Prime FPLC system was used in a cold room facility (6° C.). Thetubing system was connected with the buffer flasks and hybridomasupernatant. The tubings were extensively rinsed with the respectivebuffers (50 ml minimum, at a flow rate of 50 ml/min) using the automaticwashing protocols of the Äkta Prime FPLC system. The tubings wereconnected with the T-Gel-column, while avoiding air bubbles to get intothe column. The T-gel was washed with binding buffer (minimum 50 ml) ata flow rate of 1 ml/min. The absorbance was recorded at 280 nm and theconductivity during the washing step. The column was ready to use whenthe absorbance reached a minimum plateau for more than 10 min and theconductivity was at approx. 140 mSi/cm.

Application of the Sample

It was changed from binding buffer to hybridoma supernatant with thebuffer valve at the Äkta Prime FPLC system. The sample was applied tothe column at a flow rate of 0.5 ml/min, and the flow through collected.The absorbance raised to approx. 0.2 to 0.6, indicating the absorbanceof non bound proteins. In contrast, the conductivity should not changeduring sample application. The supernatant passed the column over night.Then it was changed from hybridoma supernatant to binding buffer withthe buffer valve at the Äkta Prime FPLC system. The column was washedwith binding buffer (minimum 50 ml) at a flow rate of 0.5 ml/min. Thecolumn was washed when the absorbance reached a minimum plateau for morethan 10 min and the conductivity was at approx. 140 mSi/cm.

Elution of the Bound Immunoglobulins

It was changed from binding buffer to elution buffer with the buffervalve at the Äkta Prime FPLC system. The autosampler was started andfractions of 4 ml collected. The bound proteins were eluted with a flowrate of 0.5 ml/min. The absorbance and the conductivity was recorded,the latter falling to approx. 12 mSi/cm. Concomitantly the absorbancegave a peak, indicating the passing of eluted immunoglobulins. It waswashed with elution buffer until the absorbance reached a minimum formore than 10 min.

Storage of the T-Gel Column

It was changed from elution buffer to storage buffer with the buffervalve at the Äkta Prime FPLC system. The column was washed with minimum50 ml at a flow rate of 2 ml/min. The column was disconnected, sealedand stored in the cold room facility.

Every fraction of the eluted proteins was tested for the presence ofimmunoglobulins with an immunoglobulin-specific ELISAImmunoglobulin-containing fractions were pooled andconcentrated/dialyzed against PBS by centriprep YM-30centrifugation/filtration units (amicon, Product number: 4306) at1000×g, 4° C. Concentration of protein was determined by conventionalBradford assay.

Specificity of the purified cmHsp70.1 or cmHsp70.2 antibodies wasassessed by:

-   A) FACS analysis using Hsp70 membrane-positive (Colo+, CX+) or    negative (Colo−/CX−) cells.-   B) Western blotting using 10 μg of whole cell lysate (K562)    separated by 10% SDS-PAGE-   C) Blocking of NK-mediated killing of Hsp70 membrane-positive tumor    target cells (Colo+, CX+); and/or-   D) Immunohistochemistry with Hsp70 membrane-positive tumor cells;    see also example 3.

For further details of one or more of the respective steps of thepurification method of the present invention see, e.g., Belew et al., J.Immunol. Meth. 102 (1987), 173-182 and Nopper et al., Anal. Biochem. 180(1989), 66-71, which refer to previous methods for the purification ofmonoclonal antibodies using salt-promoted adsorption and chromatographyon a thiophilic adsorbent and thiophilic adsorbent for the one-stephigh-performance liquid chromatogaphy, respectively.

Example 3 Characterization of Binding Properties and Biological Activityof Antibodies cm Hsp70.1 and cmHsp70.2

Antibodies cmHsp70.1 and cmHsp70.2 have been found to inhibit thecytolytic activity of cells against Hsp70 expressing tumor cells usingmethods described in Multhoff et al., Int. J. Cancer 61 (1995b), 272 andWO02/22656; see also FIG. 1. Due to the fact that cmHsp70.1 andcmHsp70.2 exhibit an inhibitory effect on the cytolytic activity of NKcells against Hsp70 expressing tumor cells it was of interest to maptheir binding epitopes. By peptide scanning (pepscan) of the C-terminalsubstrate binding domain within aa 384-618 the 8-mer peptide NLLGRFEL(aa 454-461) could be determined as the relevant recognition structurefor the cmHsp70.1 antibody. This antibody reacts specific with Hsp70 butdoes not substantially cross-react with Hsc70 as determined withstandard assays. The only amino acid difference of Hsp70 and Hsc70within the 8-mer antibody binding epitope (aa 454-460) is the exchangeat position 458 from arginine (R) to lysine (K). Similarly, antibodycmHsp70.2 was determined to specifically recognize a peptide consistingof the amino and sequence TKDNNLLGRFELSG.

The provision of the above described and deposited hybridomas provide areliable source of anti-Hsp70 antibodies capable of detectingextracellular epitopes of Hsp70 on viable cells, preferably tumor cellsand thereby enabling the specific detection and treatment of cells whichdisplay Hsp70 on their cell surface, in particular tumor cells and cellsinfected by pathogens. Thus, the present invention provides an novelclass of anti-Hsp70 antibodies for use in therapy and diagnosis as wellas in research in general.

1. A method of treating a tumor or modulating the immune response in asubject in need thereof, comprising administering to the subject atherapeutically effective amount of an antibody or antigen-bindingfragment thereof that binds to an extracellular localized epitope ofHsp70 on tumor cells.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein said tumor is ahuman tumor selected from the group consisting of colon, lung, stomach,prancreas, head and neck, ovary, and/or breast cancer, melanoma,glioblastoma, sarcoma and or leukemia such as AML, ALL, MDS orblastocytoma.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein said epitope comprisesor consist of the amino acid sequence NLLGRFEL (SEQ ID NO: 1) orTKDNNLLGRFELSG (SEQ ID NO: 2).
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein theantibody is a monoclonal antibody.
 5. The method of claim 4, wherein theantibody is monoclonal antibody cmHsp70.1 as produced by hybridomacmHsp70.1, deposited with the DSMZ-Deutsche Sammlung von Mikroorganismenund Zellkulturen GmbH, Mascheroder Weg 1b, D-38124 Braunschweig, Germanyon Nov. 14, 2003, and assigned Accession Number DSM ACC2629, orcmHsp70.2 as produced by hybridoma cmHsp70.2, deposited with theDSMZ-Deutsche Sammlung von Mikroorganismen und Zellkulturen GmbH on Nov.14, 2003, and assigned Accession Number DSM ACC2630.
 6. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the antibody or antigen-binding fragment competes withan antibody of claim 5 for binding to an extracellular localized epitopeof Hsp70 on human tumor cells.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein theantibody or antigen-binding fragment is capable of exhibiting aninhibitory effect on the cytolytic activity of NK cells against Hsp70expressing tumor cells.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein the antibodyis a human, humanized, xenogeneic, or a chimeric human-murine antibody.9. The method of claim 1, wherein the antigen-binding fragment isselected from the group consisting of a single chain Fv fragment, anF(ab′) fragment, an F(ab) fragment, and an F(ab′)₂ fragment.
 10. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the antibody is designed to be administeredintravenously, intramuscularly, subcutaneously, intraperitoneally, or asan aerosol.
 11. The method of claim 1, wherein said tumor is selectedfrom the group consisting of carcinomas of lung, colorectum, pancreas,larynx, stomach, head, neck, breast, ovaries, uterine cervix, liver,peripheral and central nervous system, sarcomas, chronic myeloicleukemia (CML), acute myeloic leukemia (AML), acute lymphatic leukemia(ALL), non Hodgkin Lymphoma (NHL), myeloproliferative syndrome (MPS),myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), plasmocytoma, melanoma and metastatictumors.
 12. The method of claim 1, wherein said disorder related to animmune response relates to a viral infection, bacterial infection,rheumatoid arthritis, lupus erythematodes, asthma bronchiale.
 13. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the antibody is labeled with a therapeuticagent.